While some Francophile events in New York were canceled last week in the wake of the Paris attacks — including a black-tie Dior dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art — the annual French Heritage Society gala at the Pierre carried on.

“It’s very important in difficult times to show that between our two old countries the unity is there,” Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger told a guest. “There is a very old tradition of mutual friendship between the United States and France. We share values of freedom, of friendship, and also of a certain idea about generosity. So, even in those tragic moments we have to show that we are part of the same family.”

Also at the black-tie affair were Jean Shafiroff, who carried a French flag to accessorize a Carolina Herrera gown, CeCe Black, Elizabeth Stribling and Lucia Hwong Gordon.